Running The Race With Endurance

Hello Friends!

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     I hope everyone is doing well on this lovely Saturday! I want to talk about running with endurance. I want to give a little backstory, I love running even as a child. I was one of the fastest runners in school and everyday after school I would time myself on how fast I could go. Running became a passion of mine. So a couple of months ago, I was lying in my bed and I heard the Lord speak to my spirit about running. He said, "Katherine, you have such a passion for running and you were born to run." I want you to train and run everyday." Well I started back with running today and it felt so good to be able to run down the road. In this blog, we will talk about training, the foods that runners eat, and the proper running form. This is a lot of information I know, but it plays a big part in our spiritual race for the Lord. If you are ready to find out more, read on my friends! 

      So as you know many runners have to train to be able to perform well on race day. You must first strengthen your muscles such as: your core, your back, your legs, ankles, and feet. You might be saying ankles and feet? Yes, when you start running and you feel your ankles wobble as you run, this means they are weak. So leg raises, and heel raises help with strengthening those muscles. Your muscles in your body need to be loose in order to run. Also stretching your body is good for preventing injuries. Also you must make sure you have the proper tennis shoes for running on pavement. If they are worn out, it's time to get another pair because they are not going to give you the proper support while you are running. Wearing proper shoes will help prevent injury. Another important tip is you are not going to run a half of a mile on your first run. You will need to slowly ease your way into running, I like to do the walk/run routine. I walk for 2 minutes and then run for 1 minute and keep it up for 3 to 4 minutes. Once again, you do not want to injure yourself. Now it's going to be hard the first three days, you will feel like you are dying at first, but do not worry, it's your body adjusting the new exercise. It gets easier after the first three days. After I finish my routine, I come in and stretch out my legs, my hips, my feet, ankles, arms, and torso. Your body will thank you for this!

   Now moving onto the food that runners eat and why it's important. They eat whole foods the majority of the time and processed every now and then. Your body is like a machine and it must need proper nutrients to perform well. So here are a few foods: peanut butter is an excellent protein, bananas are good for energy, oatmeal is full of fiber and keeps you going for a longer run, my favorite is avocado toast with a boiled egg, it keeps me full and my energy levels up. You will usually find protein, carbs, and good healthy fats or veggies on a runner's plate. They know they need proper fuel to keep their blood sugar from crashing. Also they have to keep their bodies hydrated especially on a longer run. Hydration is key for keeping the body from shutting down or passing out. Hydration before a run, during a run, and after a run, it's so important. 

     Now for the running part, you must have good form. What does this mean, your body needs to be loose and you need to find your pace. Running is supposed to be as fluid as possible. When you are running, you upper body is supposed to be angled forward slightly. You will not run very good if you are trying to run with your back completely straight, you will hurt yourself for sure. Also your breathing shouldn't be shallow, it should be breath in and breath out, breath in and breath out and make sure you are breathing. 

  So as you can see there's a lot that goes into running and you're probably wondering what does this all have to do with your spiritual race. Paul said to run with endurance. What is endurance, not giving up when it gets to hard. Think about it, running is hard work on the body so you have to build up your endurance for longer races. This is the whole point for training, making sure you are feeding and taking good care of your body so it can perform well. That's with the fleshly body, so what about the spirit? That's a great question! Well we can't feed our spirit with earthly food, but we feed it with spiritual food which is the word of God. Our spirits thrive off the word of God. This is what keeps the enemy from attacking our minds with his lies. Also praise and worship to God, it not only pleases Him, but it keeps our worries away. You cannot worship and worry at the same time. Last, but not least, prayer is communication with God. We talk to Him and He talks to us. Our spirit is connected with Him and He gives us exactly what we need when we need it. This is how we keep spiritually fit. These things help us to build our endurance to be able to run our race for God. If we fall, He is right there to help us up and help us to keep moving. When a runner falls, does he stay on the ground or does he get up and keep going? You better believe he gets back up and keeps moving, he has a race to win. 

     So my question to us today is how are we racing for the Lord? Are we taking time to read His word, pray to Him, and worship Him? Are we feeding our spirit what it needs or are we letting our spirit starve? Have we fallen down and just stayed on the ground? Are we living in defeat or victory today? Hey, it's okay, we have all been there a time or two, but it's time to get back up and keep going. I know it isn't easy, but God is right there beside us cheering us on. He will help us cross the finish line if we let Him. So I pray today that if we have fallen in our race that God will help us get up and keep moving. I pray that we will take the time to study His word and cherish it. I pray that we will take the time to go to a quiet place to spend time with Him today. Friends, I hope that this post has encouraged you and helps you to finish your race. May the Lord bless you and keep you! Until next time!